This blog is dedicated to treating everyone - clients, prospects, friends, and family - as valuable partners. We should show them our gratitude through all our actions, including our marketing.

January 3, 2016

Mentoring

In this month’s issue of The
Costco Connection, I learned that January is National Mentoring Month. We
have discussed mentors in the past, how important and necessary they are for all
of us, and how rewarding it is to be a mentor to others. I would bet that all
of us have been mentored, been a mentor, or both in our lives.

Therefore, in the spirit of Gratitude Marketing, I believe
that we all should take another look at mentoring and how we might assist
others in their quest to build their life and business. It does not matter if
an individual is working for a large corporation as a staff member or is an entrepreneur,
mentors can assist anyone. Mentors can also help students in finding their way
through school into the world of business.

Mentors can help employers deal with employee relations, the
marketing of products or services, even deciding what types of products or
services they should offer. Mentors can guide the head of a business or the
employee who is at the lowest of the organization chart. Many employers have
lost the way to relate to employees, have difficulty attracting or locating the
“right” employees, or retaining the employees that they have. Mentors may
assist with all of these situations.

What if someone is finding difficulty in starting their
business career, perhaps deciding what courses, or even schools, will help them
achieve their dreams? What if someone is having problems defining their dreams
in their life? Mentors may have the answer to these problems. Mentors do not
tell anyone what to do, providing all the answers from a playbook. They can,
however, relate experiences and other data that assists the other person decide
what they need to do in their life.

Can mentors help others develop their talents outside the
business world? Anyone can benefit from mentors who might assist them improve
their personal lives. We have discussed in the past how it is impossible for
anyone to separate their personal and business lives. Mentors will influence
the personal life of someone just they can do the same for someone’s business
life.

Mentors are available to help others who are willing to
listen and learn. Open, honest conversation is the basis of a great mentoring
relationship. If we are going to mentor someone in their business or in their
life, we must be committed. We must be the mentor that we ourselves would want.

Mentors must challenge their charges and encourage them to
reach further than they would test themselves if left to their own devices. We
should look for mentors, and be mentors, who assist and push others to rise
beyond their own expectations. Mentors must also dare their charges to try new
procedures and test the market with their own ideas and “what if” thoughts.

Mentoring can be an
important tool for a successful business, and both parties can learn from an
honest, open mentoring relationship. Gratitude Marketing can be the basis for a great
mentoring relationship. Be a mentor or get one; we
all benefit from the experience. Please leave me your comments here, or
email me at Jim@SOC4Now.com,or call me at 360-314-8691.